Tolkien Gateway:IPA

These are charts for pronouncing some of the principal languages of Arda using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Many of these IPA articulations are not going to be 100% exact (there are no laboratory recordings of the speech of real-life Eldar, considering they are fictional), but they are phonemic.

In some circumstances, lh is actually the consonant cluster l-h, pronounced as two separate letters.

ll

[lː]

Geminate consonant.

M, m

[m]

Mh, mh

[ṽ]

An older Sindarin consonant that soon becomes v. Also, in some circumstances, mh is actually the consonant cluster m-h, pronounced as two separate letters.

mm

[mː]

Geminate consonant.

N, n

[n]

nc

[ŋk]

Ng, ng

[ŋɡ, ŋ]

Normally pronounced [ŋ], but is [ŋɡ] between two vowels.

nn

[nː]

Geminate consonant.

O, o, ö

[o]

Short vowel.

Ó, ó

[oː]

Long vowel.

Ô, ô

[oːː]

Extra-long vowel.

Oe, oe

[o͡e, ø~e]

Confusingly, this represents two sounds in First Age Sindarin. [oe] is a diphthong, and [ø] is a single vowel. The latter later becomes pronounced and written like e. Perhaps the most famous word known to be spelled with oe as [ø] is Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

P, p

[p]

Ph, ph

[fː, f]

Normally pronounced [fː], but is [f] at the end of a word. In some circumstances, ph is actually the consonant cluster p-h, pronounced as two separate letters.

R, r

[r]

Rh, rh

[r̥]

In some circumstances, rh is actually the consonant cluster r-h, pronounced as two separate letters.

rr

[rː]

Geminate consonant.

S, s

[s]

ss

[sː]

Geminate consonant.

T, t

[t]

Th, th

[θ]

U, u

[u]

Short vowel.

Ú, ú

[uː]

Long vowel.

Û, û

[uːː]

Extra-long vowel.

Ui, ui

[u͡ɪ]

Diphthong.

V, v

[v]

W, w

[w]

Y, y

[y~i]

Short vowel. The traditional pronunciation is [y]. By the Third Age, all varieties of [y] become pronounced [i] instead.